As Palm Beach County voters consider Amendment 3 on property taxes, many are thinking about the impact for homeowners, residential and commercial renters, business owners, and the essential day-to-day services provided by our cities and county. We must keep our children’s future on the critical list of things at risk.
Where will my family get help with child care and afterschool programs so I can keep working? Will my child’s favorite summer camp still open next year? Who can help me know if my toddler is learning and growing on par with other children? How will I find a tutor for my middle-schooler, a mentor for my teenager?
For 40 years, Children’s Services Council of Palm Beach County (CSC) has used a share of county taxpayers’ dollars to respond effectively to these family concerns. Working together with the county, cities and a range of non-profits, foundations and faith-based organizations, the council helped build the robust network of programs and providers that today serves all families and children.
The council’s work began when you, the county voters, established it in 1986. The tax dollars that it invests today in primary prevention and early intervention help diminish or eliminate more costly remedial services that may be needed later in a child’s life.
If Amendment 3 is approved, property tax revenue will drop sharply and rapidly. But the need for family services and those costs will not disappear. Approval could push the county, cities, the Children’s Services Council and other tax-supported entities, such as the Health Care District, to reduce family services or shift the costs elsewhere.
That could mean new or higher fees, with fewer children participating in fewer programs. In just two years, projections show Amendment 3 would eliminate an estimated $200 million to $300 million annually from the county’s budget and about $26 million from the Children’s Services Council’s budget. Every city’s budget would face similar cutbacks.
Read the full Opinion Editorial by Verdenia Baker, Tammy Fields and Seth Bernstein on the Bradenton Herald